Brûléed Citrus Pound Cake

Last weekend, we took a trip up north to the Mahurangi Peninsula and drove around Matakana, Warkworth and Scandrett Regional Park. It is the ideal weekend getaway just an hour drive from Auckland Central with many interesting local primary industries like cheese and honey factories, the famous Matakana Farmers’ Market and tons of regional parks to hike and picnic at. (More pics and info in the next post!)

While exploring the towns and parks, we spotted many lemon and orange trees as it is the season. Though the winter weather in Auckland is often grey and damp, citrus trees grow in complete contrast to their growing season- bright and fresh. I think it is nature’s way of rebelling against the inhospitable, like a smack on its cold cheeks.

Inspired by all the citrus we had seen, I decided to make a pound cake from all the winter citrus fruits available at the market. This is not your usual pound cake though. The cake, syrup, frosting and candy garnish are all infused with a tinge of citrus zest, juice or the sliced fruit. For the cake, I used the zest of Meyer lemons and oranges and for the garnish, I made candied Meyer lemons, oranges and mandarins which were dusted with fine sugar and brûléed. I poked some holes into the freshly baked cake and poured a few tablespoons of the citrus syrup leftover from the candy making.I was sceptical at first as I thought that it would be an overkill of citrus flavour and sweetness but I was proven wrong when I took my first bite. It was LOVE at very first bite … and then the next and the immediate next. To me, it is the ultimate citrus pound cake.

First, you’d bite into the slightly crunchy lemon frosting and the brûléed citrus candy. You’ll be greeted by the burst of mellowed citrus flavour as the candied oranges and lemons are all full of citrus gooeyness and exceptionally addictive without being very sweet. Then, as you sink your teeth into the ‘flesh’ of the cake, you’d realise how moist the cake is from being soaked in the syrup and how tender the bite is. And soon after, unabashedly, you would cut another slice for yourself and top it off with more brûléed citrus candy slices. When I typed ‘you’ and ‘yourself’, I really meant ‘I’ and ‘myself’. #truestory

The layers of citrus in this cake make it really memorable. I absolutely love how cooking mellows ‘original’ flavours and creates new flavours in some food. For example, slow roasting garlic completely changes the flavour of its pungent original self into the most delicious, creamy garlic. Likewise, candying lemons and oranges changes the bitter rind to a pleasant, perfumy bite. Though you could buy candied citrus, I recommend making your own as it does not need any fancy tools and can made in about thirty minutes. It is quite satisfying to see the opaque white pith become transparent and very exciting to eat your own homemade citrus candy. Brûleeing the edges of the citrus candy not only makes for an interesting presentation but it makes the brûléed parts slightly ‘crispy’. Totally unnecessary but very fun to make! Make sure you don’t set off your smoke detector though!

10. Sprinkle some fine sugar on the citrus candy slices and using a blowtorch brûlée the edges slightly.

10. Serve each slice with brûléed citrus candy slices. Goes down well with afternoon tea or a coffee over breakfast.

Recipe Notes

To make cake flour, remove 2 tablespoons of plain flour from every 125g / 1 cup of plain flour and add 2 tablespoons of corn flour to the plain flour. Sift together at least 4 times to evenly mix the 2 flours. Cake flour yields a more tender crumb in cakes than plain flour.

Lemon Glaze

40 ml lemon juice (juice of 1 lemon)

160g icing sugar

Using a whisk, mix together lemon juice and icing sugar to make a thick glaze of pourable consistency. If you want the glaze to be more opaque, add a tablespoon of icing sugar to the glaze, mix and add more if needed.

I always love a citrus pound cake, with some freshness and acidity from the citrus, but this cake is certainly something else with the lovely slices of bruleed citrus! And those are such beautiful photos, of the incredible lemon trees, and the dramatic way the cake stands out against the dark background.

So tempting! Your descriptions and photos make me wanna run out and buy the ingredients right now :p I’ve been browsing for a project to get into the habit of baking more regularly, and this looks like a perfect start. Thanks for sharing.

I need to take a moment to compose my thoughts…. Because oh my gawd! Kankana, I’ve been following your blog for a while now & as such, I’m pretty stoked that you commented on my blog !! I recall that you had bought some keffir limes & I think that might be an interesting flavour with Indian lemons& limes. Do you get calamansi limes there? Calamansi limes are great in desserts.